Buy it... if you seek one of the best compilations of science
fiction film music ever to be recorded for album.

Avoid it... if this set contains too few of the common mainstream
favorites, in which case you should seek the previous album in the
series.

EDITORIAL REVIEW

FILMTRACKS TRAFFIC RANK: #844

WRITTEN
2/15/98, REVISED 8/5/07

BUY IT

Alien Invasion: Space and Beyond II: (Compilation)
This second installment in Silva Screen's massive compilations of sci-fi
and alien themes from motion pictures is just as impressive as the
first. The original "Space and Beyond" CD was voted by Filmtracks
visitors as one of the five best CD albums of 1997, falling behind only
Titanic and the special edition releases of each of the original
Star Wars scores. Unlike the original, though, this CD pays more
of a tribute to classic sci-fi themes. The mix of modern and classic
themes is sometimes jarring, lending some merit to thoughts that the
album would be better if the selections were chronologically arranged.
Those inclusions range from War of the Worlds through Starship
Troopers, which was still popular at the time of the compilation's
release, and present a variety of composers in the ranks of Jerry
Goldsmith, David Arnold, Dimitri Tiomkin, Leith Stevens, and Alan
Silvestri. The performances by The City of Prague Philharmonic are equal
to the group's strength in Silva's other offerings of the late 1990's,
having shed some of the awkward performances that the Czech players had
contributed just five years earlier. One of the more superior
performances on this album is Mars Attacks!, for which the
ensemble very successfully recreates Danny Elfman's style (including
theremin and choir). Contrasting that silliness is Bernard Herrmann's
classic theme for The Day the Earth Stood Still, with a
performance creepy to the point of perfection. The cult Toto score for
Dune was popular at the time due to a significantly expanded
album release, and a lengthy suite of the score's primary themes is
arranged by Toto member David Paich. The choral accompaniment, not
unexpectedly, is much richer here than in the original, though the title
theme is performed with a bit too much haste (and some seemingly odd
orchestrations). Two of the subsequent three selections from the Star
Trek films and television shows are tired inclusions. As with other
compilation performances, the Klingon theme from the first film and the
First Contact theme lack the full power and majesty of the
originals.

The Klingon theme specifically has been recorded with a
far better sense of style by Erich Kunzel. The track from Deep Space
Nine by Dennis McCarthy is the good find, though, with the cue not
available elsewhere at the time. Following the Star Trek realm is
a suite from Steven's When Worlds Collide, a fabulous 50's sci-fi
flick with overly dramatic brass fanfares and timpani rolls. Fresh
choral accompaniment makes this recording unique. James Horner's
Battle Beyond the Stars was unreleased at the time as well,
making it a selling point of the album, but its performance here is
lacking compared to the original (likely due to poor orchestration). The
tracks from The Thing from Another World, Twilight Zone,
and Battlestar Galactica fail to muster much interest, with the
suite from Battlestar Galactica oddly arranged. Ending the first
CD is a combination of two tracks from David Arnold's Stargate.
The opening cue from Giza cuts to the "Going Home" track at an peculiar
junction, but touches well on the broad scope of the score. The second
CD begins with perhaps the worst track on the entire collection. The
badly dated electronic garbage that appears here from Forbidden
Planet sounds like it came directly out of Disneyland's old
Tomorrowland Peoplemover in the 1950's. Truly wretched synthesized
noise, to say the least. By contrast, Gustav Holst's "Mars" theme from
The Planets is a blast of Hans Zimmer's shamelessly emulating
Gladiator, though the original inspiration is easily superior in
its performance here. As always, Alan Silvestri's "End Titles" from
Contact is beautiful in a philosophical sense, with this lengthy
recording capturing the appropriate religious and moral undertones of
the original. The two tracks from Starship Troopers open with the
frenetic "Bugs!" action cue, a difficult pill to swallow in any
performance. The performance of the score's title theme, though, is much
better than the original, using the full force of Prague's enormous
sound to better accentuate the masculinity of Basil Poledouris'
score.

A difficult prospect to find at the time was
Silvestri's Predator, and its title theme is provided here with
all the sharply ripping percussion required by its distinctive rhythms.
There have been better performances of War of the Worlds,
particularly from the Erich Kunzel compilations, but this suite contains
considerably more music from score. The most unnecessary inclusion on
this set is John Williams' "The Imperial March" from The Empire
Strikes Back, a piece that Prague had not performed for the first
set and must have felt compelled to throw it on this one to help sell
units. With so little variation in its performances, the piece has
become a tired inclusion on many compilations, and its rendering here is
bass-heavy and lacking in resonance. Christopher Young's track from
Invaders from Mars is the equivalent for this compilation to what
Species was for the last: a reflective, quiet, well-mannered
melody to close out its film. Shirley Walker's highly anticipated
Space: Above and Beyond accompanied the television series that
suffered a dismal death due to lack of network enthusiasm, but a heroic
suite lives on here. Joe Harnell's theme from the mini-series V
will be forgotten just a minute into the symphonic version of Jack
Nitzsche's Starman that follows. With sentimental, sweeping
strings and choir, this could be the highlight of the set. The suite
from Arnold's Independence Day is superior to those recorded on
other compilations, with a full chorus to add vital patriotic depth to
the finale of the suite. The solo cello in its mid-section is
outstanding. The final "bonus" track on the compilation is a return to
The Thing from Another World. Dimitri Tiomkin's unconventional
instrumentation for the score yields an overbearingly powerful solo
theremin effect that'll be sure to make your neighbors think that the
world is coming to an end. Remarkably irritating, but delightful in any
sound effect library. Overall, even with a few duds mingling in "Alien
Invasion: Space and Beyond II," it's a highly enjoyable set. With its
continued success, Silva would continue to release similar compilations
in the future. *****@Amazon.com: CD or
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